


Hating Winter

by DarkSide (Dark_Side)



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers are a family, Bucky should get more love, Gen, Sad, caring Avengers, hurt!Clint, hurt!bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:21:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25899610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dark_Side/pseuds/DarkSide
Summary: Bucky has been on the team for a while but everyone outside his friends are scared of him.He can cope with it, even when bad memories comes back.Sorry, I'm bad at summaries.
Kudos: 11





	Hating Winter

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: the Avengers and the characters are not mine. I write only for fun.  
> This in unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine.  
> Enjoy!

They do not trust him. After couple dozen missions that ended well, they still do not trust him, they are too scared of the chance that he may turn back into the old Winter Soldier and kill everyone. But that is fine: at least they have not put a bullet through his skull yet and at least the Avengers have his back.  
Yet, the others, all of them, avoid him as much as possible.

Clint limps by his side, his quiver empty and his bow on his back, while he walks to the medical tent. Bucky cleans his forehead again from the blood that tries to fall in his eyes and the cut hurts.  
The two free doctors run towards Clint and the first one to speak takes care of him, leaving the colleague mute, with tense shoulders and an awkward smile for Bucky.  
“It’s just a scratch.” Bucky breaks the ice and walks to the medical tent, the doctor follows him a few steps behind. The doctor seems to remember what job they is paid to do only when Bucky wipes the blood away from his forehead with his dirty glove. The doctor cleans the cut, closes it up with steri-strip and covers it with a band aid. Their hands are cold on Bucky’s skin. They fills in the papers quickly and asks the standard questions.  
Bucky answers shortly, does not bring up that an enemy stomped on his feet and walks quickly to the truck that will bring the whole team home. He feels the coldness the doctor left on him seeping under his skin, under his clothes and slowly creeping in his muscles. He does not like it.  
He jumps in the truck and, when everyone is aboard and the truck starts moving, Bucky closes his eyes and rests his head against the wall behind him.  
“Lean on me, if you want.” He whispers to Bruce wrapped in his blanket, since he is struggling to stay sit upright.  
“Thank you.” Bruce’s head comes closer, Bucky wraps and arm around his shoulder and holds the blanket still. Bruce puts his head on Bucky’s shoulder, and Bucky rests his chin on top of the other man’s head.  
Bruce is burning against his chest and wards off the frost the doctor has left on him.  
The ride is calm, nobody talks, while the adrenaline is disposed off, and weariness kicks in. Bruce falls asleep in two minutes and Bucky lets himself be lulled by the movement of the truck.  
He opens his eyes slowly and sees Steve’s weary smile. Tony keeps moving Clint away who lets his head fall on Tony on purpose. Tony is slightly annoyed, but he enjoys it deep down. Bucky closes his tired eyes and pats Bruce’s shoulder.

He tenses up when someone touches his shoulder.  
“Bucky?” It’s Steve, “We’ve arrived.”  
Bucky lets go of Bruce who yawns, and fumbles for his glasses. Natasha gives them to him and makes sure he does not drop them. Bruce legs tremble and Bucky circles his back with his robotic arm and helps him get off of the truck.  
He has not yet fully understood how the Bruce-and-Hulk-thing works and how many energies Bruce consumes in the process. Today the battles was not difficult, but Bruce seems to have fought for two days straight instead of half a day.  
“Come on, Bruce, just a little longer, then you can sleep in a bed.”  
They walk in the Avengers Tower together and Tony, Steve and Clint let them take the lift first. Natasha shows him the way in Bruce’s floor and helps him putting the Doctor in his bed, who mutters a “thank you” and falls asleep as soon as his head touches the pillow.

Bucky sits up in his bed and swears against the alarm blasting at 5 a.m. The last time he looked at the watch on the bedside, it was 3.42 a.m. and he would have loved to sleep at least 5 hours straight.  
Bucky jumps out of his bed reluctantly, takes some random clothes from his wardrobe and picks up his weapons, armour and shoes from the entrance. He gets in the lift while he ties his shoes and Clint flashes him a tired smile, while checking his quiver is correctly fastened to his back. Natasha is tying her hair in a messy knot. The lift starts his ride upward on its own will and it stops at Wanda’s floor: her hair seems a robin’s nest and she is rubbing tiredness out of her eyes. She still has a brush in her hand and Natasha smiles at her and brushes her hair.  
The lift stops on the roof and the quinjet’s blasts of wind welcome them as it waits for them to board. Wanda’s hair knots again and the group gets quickly aboard.  
Steve welcomes them while brushing his eyes and Tony is immobile like a statue in his armour. Agent Hills is in the driver seat and briefly explains the situation: West Hempstead is on fire because of red and blue aliens that have not yet been identified.  
“Tony?” Ironman has not yet sat down, and Bucky shakes him gently.  
“Yes, good. Fine.” The man answers and everybody tries not to laugh. Bucky sits down with Tony by his side and makes a nod towards Wanda who rearranges herself and the seatbelt so she can lay down and rest her head on the soldier’s leg. Natasha throws the brush to Bucky who catches it mid-air and tries to fix the young witch’s hair. He manages to make a good job despite the position and brushes his own hair before giving the brush back to Natasha.  
They land half an hour later and Wanda sits up as soon as the quinjet touches the ground.  
“Thank you.” She wipes off the saliva from the corner of her mouth and blushes out of embarrassment. Bucky smiles and does not care about the wet spot on his leg. The Avengers gets off quickly, Steve in the front line more to protect them than to guide them. It is a safe zone on the top of an hospital, but the fire shines in the dark on their right and is coming closer.  
“Bruce, you know what to do.” Steve instructs and Doctor Banner walks away. Hulk appears in all his screaming, gigantic, green glory. He smiles at the group, jumps off the building an runs to control the south line.  
Tony lifts Clint and flies toward the fire while looking for the best and safest place where to leave the archer.  
Captain America smiles at Bucky and runs to the roof door of the hospital and starts running down the stairs.  
Tony comes back in less than two minutes and takes Bucky on the safe rooftop where Clint is.  
“Remember to count your kill. This time I will win.” Clint shows him the best place from which to shoot and starts killing the aliens.  
“Keep dreaming, Clint.”  
The archer punches him weakly on the shoulder and a second later he has already shot down two blue aliens.  
“So you kill the blue ones, I take the red ones?” Bucky put a bullet in the forehead of a red alien, that falls down and hits one of his comrade.  
“Fine.”  
They kill two dozen each before the Captain America’s shield shines on the battlefield and Wanda’s red magic tears apart four enemies in one go. Hulk screams somewhere on the right and the shooting from the S.H.I.E.L.D. squad echoes on the left.  
The snaps from Clint’s arrow keeps track of the time, Bucky follows the rhythm and starts shooting between the arrows of Hawkeye. He should not be doing it, but it is fun and Clint has not scolded him yet.  
A building on the far right suddenly crumbles down and Tony swears in the earbud, “Damn it, Hulk.”  
“Language!” Steve scolds him and Bucky stops shooting for the laughter he is trying to keep down.  
Clint smiles by his side. The battle goes on well, the alien blood smirches the streets and their corpses falls one on top of the other.  
“Clint, Bucky, change rooftop, the building is compromised. Tony, take them away.” Steve instructs, Wanda’s red magic dismembers more aliens.  
“Coming.” Tony answers.  
They do not need to talk, Clint takes the responsibility to kill the red aliens too, one of his arrows explodes in the middle of the enemies lines and Bucky does a recon on the rooftop to better understand where the enemies are coming from.  
“Пиздец. Clint, they are climbing the back.” A dozen alien are jumping from a window to another, destroying the glasses in their climbing.  
Bucky brushes his hair back and shoots the closer alien in the head and it falls and crashes on the ground. The others do not care about it and keeps climbing the building. Bucky kills two more aliens, one of them hits one comrade and makes it fall too.  
“Clint!” More aliens are coming, definitely more than what he can kill.  
“A moment!” Clint screams back, his bow flicks again, followed by an explosion.  
“Tony? Can you take out of here?” Bucky asks, while shooting at the red alien four floors below.  
“One minute.” The explosion in Bucky’s ear makes him jolt, but his aim is perfect as always.  
“Bucky, here. I got an escape!” Bucky kills the closer aliens and runs towards Clint who finishes to ties a rope to the rooftop.  
“Are you sure it will work?” Bucky asks as soon as he see the rope between their rooftop and the next one.  
“Stark’s tech has not disappointed me yet till now. But don’t let him know.” Clint smiles, looks behind his back but he does not noctch a new arrow.  
They are high on that damn building, the frost of a distant winter seeps under his skin and Bucky swallows: it is not the time to think about the past and be even more afraid.  
“You go first.” He turns back, a machine gun in one hand ready to shoot anything non-earthly that dares put a foot on that rooftop. Clint pats his shoulder, the warmth of his hands wards off the frost from Bucky’s memory, and soon he is gliding along the rope towards the other rooftop.  
“It’s your turn, Buck. The landing is rough.”  
Nothing has arrived on the roof yet and Bucky has no intention to stay there longer. The street below him is too down below but at least he does not have to land on a moving train in the middle of snow and coldness. He gathers the hanger Clint left him and he jumps. When he lands on the other rooftop, his knees hurt and Clint cuts the rope immediately to stop the aliens from following them.  
“Are you ok?” Bucky cannot move, but Clint’s hand on his shoulders ward off the winter frost of seventy and more years before.  
“Yes. I’m here. Let’s reach the rest of the team.”  
He takes Clint’s hand and stands up and they run down the emergency stairs on the side of the building together.  
“We’re coming to you.” Bucky gives their position to the rest of the team, while Clint jumps from one flight of stairs to the other like an acrobat.  
A fireball blows up the stairs above Bucky’s head. “Пиздец.”  
The stairs wobble, Clint slips and swings, hanging on the handrail. Bucky runs down the staircase to help him, but Clint is already swinging. He lets go of the handrail and lands on the flight of stairs below him.  
“Are you alright?”  
“Still in one piece. Let’s hurry up getting away from here.”  
They run down the stairs, Wanda’s red magic kills the alien on the building and the young women appears soon after that, her lips bent in a happy smile. Steve and Natasha are behind her, and Bucky makes them a sign that they are all fine.  
“Tony, stay with Hulk, we have the situation under control here.”  
“Sam has arrived.” Tony answers and Steve smiles. The ground team do not need more orders. They make a circle, shoulder to shoulder and goes towards the building assaulted by the aliens, that are climbing down now.  
“Should I blow it up?” Clint offers and after a moment of reflection, Steve nods. Clint smiles happily and notches one of the emergency arrow that Tony made in a limited number. He cannot afford to miss. The arrow gets through a broken window of the third floor, the first aliens are already on the street.  
Nothing happens.  
“Clint, was that the right arrow?” Bucky asks and strengthens his grip on the machine gun. Wanda’s magic dances around them.  
“Bring your complains to…”  
The building explodes, the boom silences Clint’s words and the shockwave knocks the whole team down.  
Bucky and Steve recover first. The alien around the building seems dead, their blood is splattered on the street and there are charred pieces everywhere. Bucky turns around to check how the rest of the group are. Natasha and Wanda were blown away and are still on the ground, Clint crashed against the stairs they went down.  
“Пиздец.” The stairs are crumbling down and Bucky lets go of the machine gun and runs.  
Clint blinks and murmurs something unintelligible. Bucky has no time to take him away and covers him with his own body, while the stair collapses on them.

“Bucky, you’re heavey, I can’t breathe. Fuck.” Clint’s voice cannot stay on the same tone from start to end. Bucky breathes in dust and his back is burning for the pressure. He is on the ground, squashed on Clint and all around him there are metal pieces and debris of the stair.  
“How are you? Clint? Bucky? Can you hear me? Answer me!” Steve’s screams in Bucky’s ear are annoying and Clint does not answer.  
“We’re alive, but we need help to get out of here.” Bucky answers and each breath makes the pain on his back worse and makes him see stars.  
“Fuck.” Clint cries out, “I can’t hear.”  
His voice almost dies on the end.  
“They’re coming. They’ll take us out of here.” Bucky articulates the words well to makes things easier on Clint. He only hopes the rest of the team hurries up, for the stairs on his back are heavy. He tries to get up, the stair squeaks around him and Bucky goes still.  
“Fuck, you’re heavy.” Bucky smiles at Clint’s complaints. He tries to lift himself a little more, a metal piece creaks and something slides down from the stack on his back. Bucky stops, closes his eyes and covers Clint’s face with his hands. The stair crashing on the ground makes everything wobble and makes dirt and debris fly.  
A barrage of gunfire makes Bucky tense up and he covers Clint’s mouth with a hand and breathes slowly not to be heard. The gunfire comes closer. Some aliens scream. The weight on his back is suddenly lessened, some flights of stair fall down and Bucky does all he can to protect Clint.  
The archer slides a hand down his side and slowly taps something in Morse code. W-A-N-D-A.  
Good news. Bucky takes his hand off Clint’s mouth and gets on his hand and knees. Some metal piece slides off his back and he grit his teeth not to scream.  
Clint makes a deep breath and moves slowly to remove the quiver from under his back. He bites down on his lips, his eyes shut tight for a flash of pain. Gunfire echoes all around them, the weight on Bucky’s back vanishes and he keels over on one side to set Clint free. The hit with the ground makes him see stars out of pain.  
“Are you alright?” Steve’s face is worried over him. Bucky nods and sits up slowly, his back is on fire.  
“Clint’s hearing aid is dead.” He reports. The gunfire dies out and behind Steve’s back, the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have wiped out the last aliens with Wanda’s help.  
“I think I need a doctor.” Clint whispers. Only then, Bucky sees the metal piece jabbed in the archer’s thigh.  
“Пиздец.” Bucky swears while he helps Clint with taking off the quiver from his back.  
Steve calls the medic unit while Bucky tears off the sleeve of his metal arm and uses the piece of clothes to stop the blood loss.  
“I’m sorry, Clint.” The archer does not speak but touches his shoulder.  
“Help the others.” His voice goes up and down and Bucky shakes his head.  
“I’ll stay and keep you safe ‘till the doctor’s arrival.”  
As if he has evoked them, the ground tremble and Hulk arrives screaming and tramples the last aliens, while Ironman and Falcon flies around him like guardian spirits.  
The battles ends in a couples of minutes, Hulk screams his rage out and shakes his fist against the sky when he sees Clint is wounded and Natasha runs towards him to calm him.  
“It’s nothing, big guy, I’m fine. And you did an amazing job.” Clint screams with a huge smile on his face. He is pale and Bucky scoots closer to give him something to lean on. Tony lands next to them and offers Clint a spare pair of hearing aids. Clint rejoices and puts them on in time for the medical equipe’s arrival.  
Some doctors hesitates as they see Bucky, then they ignores him and take care of Clint’s leg.  
“I’ll leave you in good hands.” Bucky says before he stands up, gritting his teeth, and Clint nods.  
Bucky reaches Steve, and ignores how a pang of pain irradiates from his back at each step.  
Steve has not even a scratch on himself and shift the doctor’s attention to Bucky. There is again a moment of hesitation before the doctor accompanies him to the medical vehicle and makes him sit on a stretcher. A woman in a white coat cuts what is left of his shirt and removes the pieces still stuck on his back. Bucky grits his teeth to keep the pain at bay, water and antiseptic makes him see stars and he answers monosyllabic to the doctor’s questions. Cold spreads on his skin and seeps in his muscles. He does not even feel the sting on his arm for the anti-tetanus shot.

Clint drives the doctors crazy more to amuse Bucky than to break Tony’s record. Bucky smiles happily, each of Clint’s wince ward off the frost that the medical equipe’s hands have left on him.  
“Thank you for saving me.” Clint says one afternoon, when they are alone in the medical bay of the Avengers Tower.  
Bucky’s head pops out of the t-shirt, his messy hair falls on his face.  
“You’d have done the same for me.”  
Clint shakes his head, “And I’d be dead now.”  
“You only have to try and I’ll make you sleep on the couch for the rest of your life!” Bucky jolts as he hears the screams of the woman he has never seen before, who has just entered the room. From the terrified look on Clint’s face, Bucky knows he cannot leave the room.  
“Honey, what are you doing here?”  
The woman with brown hair runs toward Clint and Bucky sets his hair straight in a hurry.  
“The kid were worried. They’ve found out about the accident and, for God’s sake Clint, did you really have to get under the stairs? What if we had lost you…” The woman throws his arms around his shoulders and Clint strokes her back to soothe her.  
“Don’t worry, it’s not that bad. And the whole team has my back.”  
Bucky grabs quickly his stuff and silently walks towards the door to give the couple some privacy. He cannot get out for Clint calls him.  
“Buck, wait! I don’t think I properly introduce you two.”  
Bucky turns around and smiles even though he knows the woman will hate him.  
“She is Laura, my wife and an international secret, and he is James Barnes, one of the Avengers’ last recruits and a remarkable sniper.”  
Bucky shakes the woman’s hand, “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Barton.”  
“Call me Laura. And… Thank you. Nat told me what happened.” Her eyes gleams of tears and Bucky does not know what to do.  
“Thank you for bringing him home.” She hugs him out of gratitude and Bucky needs a couple of second to hug her back. Laura’s arms behind his back are warm and as soon as they leave him, the warmth stays. Laura wipes her tears away and takes a step back.  
“I’m sorry. That idiot always makes me worry too much.”  
“We’ll take care of him.” Bucky promises and she smiles gratefully.  
“May I ask you to take a picture for the kids?”  
Bucky nods and goes on the left of Clint, on the right Laura takes her mobile out of her purse and takes a picture.  
“Thank you, indeed. This should be enough to calm them down and soothe them.”  
“No problem.” Bucky takes his things from his bed and bids goodbye to the couple. It is still surreal for him that Clint has a family, wife and kids waiting for him at home, but he is happy for him. The warmth on his skin seeps in his muscles and it does not seem to ever go away as if it wants to remind him that not everyone outside the Avengers hates him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> For those of you who don't speak Russian, here the translation.  
> Пиздец: Russian insult. It works like shit/fuck/damn.


End file.
